Broken Chances
by Kretari - daughter of Hermes
Summary: There are many things that Raivis worries about the year he entered the fourth grade. Some of it is stuff that kids his age should never have even had to think about before. So, what happens when he meets Lili? How will he handle it if she finds out his darkest secret? Warning: mentions of past child abuse. Possible, eventual romance.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So, this is a story for LetThemHaveGermanRumCake, who requested that I write Liechtenstein and Latvia. I love the pairing, but alas, I can't do that pairing in Strength and Survival, so I promised them this. Enjoy, loves!**

The first day of school wasn't usually too hard to deal with. Usually. This year, for some reason, was different.

Toris was frowning down at Raivis, who was clinging to his pants leg while he spoke with the teacher. "He's not normally like this, I promise."he said softly, trying to coax the Latvian boy to release him.

The teacher gave a kind smile. "This isn't the first time today,"she promised.

Toris gave her a thankful look and kneeled down when Raivis finally let him go. "Listen to me, Raiv."he said softly.

Raivis met his eyes, his own wide. Toris hated seeing him like this, shaking and frightened.

"I swear to you, Eduard and me will be back to pick you up as soon as our school lets out. Three twenty, okay?"Toris said, pointing at the clock. "Try to have a bit of fun, okay?"

Raivis nodded in understanding and wrapped the elder male in a tight hug.

Toris gave a faint smile and hugged him back gently. "Good, now..I have to go before Ed and me get in trouble for being late,"

Raivis nodded and let him go. He stared at the door for a while after Toris left before the teacher directed him to a seat.

The chatter that filled the room echoed in Raivis's head. It was odd, being around people who were being so kind with one another. Sure, Toris and Eduard and him always did that. But this was different. There were so many kids. He shrunk further down in his seat, trembles still going through him. They were supposed to be talking with one another, getting to know each other. But he couldn't bring himself to speak up. He hadn't spoken since he'd gotten out of the car.

The girl that was sitting in front of him turned away from someone and looked at him. "Hallo!"she greeted brightly.

Raivis jumped, looking up at her, eyes wide and portraying his surprise. "H-hello."he said in return, his voice soft, hardly audible.

A soft giggle sounded, setting him at ease. "I'm Lili. Who're you?"  
Raivis gave a shaky smile. "My na-name is R-raivis."he said politely.

Lili tilted her head before she smiled softly.

Their conversation halted there, mostly because Raivis couldn't bring himself to speak again. He'd always hated it. He'd never really gotten past his stutter after Toris had taken him in. The fear was constant in his mind, and it always made his voice faulter quite a bit when he spoke.

By the time their lunch came around, he wasn't shaking as much. But the fourth grade class was still much louder than he was used to. He didn't speak to anyone, and he sat off to himself at lunch.

Lili frowned at him worriedly from her seat with the rest of the class, but made no move to get up. She didn't want to be rude, but she was trying to avoid trouble.

And so, as they left the cafeteria for recess, Lili caught up with Raivis. "Hi!"she greeted.

Raivis started a bit, looking over at her. He gave her a faint smile. "Hi."he said in return. The trembles that had been shaking his frame so far that day had disappeared, leaving his speech clear for a change. He wasn't used to it.

Lili smiled. "First day nerves?"she asked.

Raivis shrugged. "People thing."he responded.

Lili nodded in understanding, looking at the crowd on the playground before noticing that nobody was near the swings. She grabbed ahold of one of Raivis's hands, pulling him along to the swings.

As soon as they were there, she released her grip and sat down.

Raivis sat beside her, gathering his thoughts again after being so suddenly drug along.

Lili grinned over at him happily. "So, who was with you earlier?"

Raivis smiled slightly. "...one of my brothers."he said softly.

Lili tilted her head. "What about your parents?"she asked. "Do you live with them?"

Raivis looked down and drug his shoe on the dirt, creating a little design there. "N-no. I-I used to."he mumbled.

Lili frowned, but didn't press on. "Me too. I live with my big brother now, as well."she admitted.

Raivis bet her gaze, noticing the slight sadness in her eyes. He steeled his nerves, getting control over his speech again before he spoke. "I'm sorry for your loss, Lili."

The sincerity in his tone made her smile. "Thank you."

Nothing more was said on the topic. In fact, Lili moved on and started throwing questions out at random. Favorite color, movie, food, stuff like that.

Once they started discussing movies, they got into a bit more depth of how things were at home.

Turns out, both of them had movie nights with their brothers once a week, usually on Fridays.

When recess ended, Lili walked with Raivis back to the class, still talking and laughing lightly with him.

That evening, their siblings showed up around the same time to get them to see them sitting on a bench out front, talking happily about something.

Toris was shocked to see that Raivis wasn't shaking or stuttering, and so he stopped Vash before he interupted. "Hold on."he said quietly.

Vash looked at him in confusion, but could see the amazement in his eyes, so he turned to take a closer look at the boy, who he had only frowned at before. He smiled faintly when he recognised him and saw the effect his sister had had on him.

Lili looked over then and grinned brightly, shooting up and running to give Vash a hug. "Big Bruder!"she exclaimed.

Raivis got up and walked over to Toris, hiding slightly when Lili pulled Vash over to introduce him.

"This is Raivis!"she said softly, motioning at the hiding boy.

Raivis gave a shaky smile. "H-hello, sir."he said politely, but hid further.

Vash looked at Toris before he kneeled down. "C'mere."he said, motioning for Raivis to come over to him.

Raivis did so, but shot Lili a worried look about it. She continued smiling, so he figured it was safe.

Vash placed a hand on his shoulder, making him squirm a bit. "Don't call me sir, okay, Raivis? I'm Vash, Lili's brother. You do not need to be so formal."

Raivis nodded and went back to his own brother and hid again.

Vash looked at Toris. "Well, Tor..I gotta say, you were right about him. Such a sweetheart."he said, picking Lili up as he stood.

Toris nodded and shrugged before looking down at Raivis. "Let's get home so we can get started on dinner, yeah?"he said softly to the boy, who nodded in agreement, allowing Toris to help him into the car. He waved goodbye to Vash and Lili, who returned the gesture of farewell.

That night over dinner, Toris and Eduard questioned Raivis on how his day had been.

Turns out, it hadn't been as bad as they feared it would be for him.

**Yep. Chapter one done.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So, I'm glad people seem to like this. **

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**Enjoy.**

The following morning found a new problem, though. While Raivis wasn't that nervous about going back, he was still having issues finding a way that he could be around others without trembling and stuttering harshly.

Eduard walked Raivis in when they got there, giving Toris a knowing look.

They ran into Lili and Vash, and the Swiss male gave a faintly amused look to the two. "Any problems with Raivis?"he asked Eduard quietly once they'd dropped Lili and Raivis off in their classroom.

Eduard sighed. "He's still terrified of people."he remarked. "We've done all we can to help him, Vash, we're at the end of our rope. We don't know how to help him. He's gone through so much..."

Vash frowned. "Have you considered putting him in some form of therapy?"

Eduard shook his head. "We don't have that kind of money, and besides, Raiv is still so closed off..we have to coax him into speaking a lot of the times around people he doesn't know. Yesterday was something akin to a miracle that your sister pulled."he said as they left the building.

Vash sighed. "Listen...talk to him about what happened. You and Toris just sit him down and talk with him. He's too young to understand what he went through completely."  
Eduard nodded in understanding and gave a thankful smile before getting into the car.

Lili looked over at Raivis with a bright smile. "Hallo!"she greeted as he sat down.

Raivis's eyes flew to her and he had to force himself to relax again. "S-sveiki."he responded quietly.

Lili tilted her head for a moment before understanding lit in her eyes and she grinned. "You okay?"she questioned.

Raivis nodded, but it was a bit too quickly to be believed.

Class was rather quiet that day. Raivis got called on a couple of times by the teacher to say something, and each time, he stuttered bad enough that someone had to translate. Each time, most of the others in class laughed at him. And each time, he sunk lower in his seats.  
This last time, though, was a question about his parents. He didn't even answer it. They were supposed to answer questions about themselves to the class, he understood that, but this wasn't something he wanted _anyone_ knowing. He shook his head, tears springing into his eyes.  
Lili gave him a concerned look, much more so than the other times.

At lunch, Lili sat with Raivis, who sat away from the others, speaking quietly. But he never spoke in response.

At recess, they were both rather quiet for a while. Then, Raivis spoke. "I-i'm sorry, Lili."he said softly. "It..it's just...n-n-nobody's ever asked me ab-about my parents before..and I-i just..."

Lili nodded in understanding. "Big Brother told me what happened. He knows from your brothers."she said softly. "I am sorry about what happened."

But Raivis knew she didn't understand it any better than he did. "Paldies."he murmured.

Lili smiled softly and nodded.

That day, after school, Eduard, Toris, and Vash got there around the same time again to see their younger siblings sitting together silently. Raivis was sniffling, and Lili was giving him a worried look.  
Toris immediately went into protective mode and he moved to kneel in front of his brother. "Raiv..you okay, bud?"

Raivis looked up in surprise, a startled whimper escaping his throat and causing Toris to hold his hands up in front of him to let Raivis see he meant no harm. "Tor.."he mumbled, shooting himself into his brother's arms.

Toris caught him and looked to Lili in question.

Lili shook her head. "One of our classmates said something to him before we could leave. He's been like this since we got out here."she responded weakly.

Vash sighed. "Alright, listen...how about we all have dinner. Tonight's not going to be easy."

Raivis moved away from Toris to stare at Vash in question.  
Eduard spoke. "Raivis...we need to speak to you..and Vash said he'd help because we can't help you understand what's happened..."

Raivis shook his head. "N-no!"he said. "P-please!"

Eduard closed his eyes against it and he sighed. "I don't want to drag memories up either, but we have to do something! You're terrified of people, and it's going to cause you so much pain if we don't try to help."

Toris sighed and looked back at the Estonian. "We'll just be very careful about how we manage, okay?"he said, a reassurance to both of his brothers.

Vash looked to Lili and motioned for her to come along.

Lili murmured a goodbye to the three and moved to get in the car with her brother.

Vash paused and looked at the two. "We'll give you three two hours before we show up, okay?"

Eduard nodded and Toris set about calming Raivis back down.

When Vash came into the house that the three brothers shared with his little sister, it was to see Raivis curled up in an overstuffed armchair asleep. He gave a faint smile. "Exhausted, I see."he commented.

Toris glanced over and nodded. "He's been out for about an hour, actually. We spoke with him about what happened today, and he just shut down on us."

Lili stared at them as if she didn't understand before going to sit nearby.

Vash sighed. "It'll take a while for him to be alright again, you know. There's a lot of scarring..mentally and physically, I'd assume."  
Toris shook his head. "He still worries us so much. He's got moments where he just..stops. His heart slows so much you can't find a pulse and his breathing will stop for a few seconds. It happened a couple nights ago again and it still nearly gives Ed and me heart attacks everytime."

Vash nodded.

Dinner was awkward. Raivis was oddly quiet. Lili kept quiet as well, knowing nothing about what their elder brothers were discussing.

It took an hour after that to get the conversation done for the evening and Vash and Lili left.

Raivis had disappeared the second they left to go to his room.

Eduard brought a mug of hot cocoa to the small Latvian's bedroom.

Raivis was curled up in an old blanket of his when Eduard came in. He sat down when he handed his younger brother the mug. "You know we only did that to try and help, right?"

Raivis nodded. "I know. I-it's just...I-I-i'm still scared,"

Eduard frowned, but nodded. "I know. That's understandable. It's okay. Listen..just..drink the cocoa and get some rest. The three of us are staying home tomorrow. We have to make sure you're okay, and if that means you take a day off, and us miss as well, that's what we'll do."

Raivis didn't argue, so Eduard kissed the top of his head gently and left. "Ma armastan sind, mu pisike."

Raivis smiled softly. "Es arī tevi mīlu."

Eduard smiled and cut the lights down before he left the room quietly.

An hour and a half later, Eduard checked in to see Raivis asleep. He smiled faintly and headed to the living room to speak with Toris.

Perhaps everything would turn out okay.

**So..yeah. Here.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey guys. Been a bit. **

**To those who reviewed: **

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**Enjoy. **

The following morning at school, Raivis seemed hesitant to let go of Toris, who walked him to his class that day.

Toris sighed and ran a hand through his younger brother's hair. He spoke softly once they reached the door of his classroom. "Raiv, you have to go. I know you don't like being near people once they've hurt you in some way, but you have to be strong for me okay? I mean it. No tears. If you cry, so do I, and you don't want that, do you?"he asked softly when he had knelt down in front of the small Latvian.

Raivis shook his head. "No."he said quietly.

Toris smiled faintly. "Then keep your chin up and go in there and just have fun, okay? Lili's already there."he said softly.

Raivis nodded in understanding, giving his big brother a tight hug.

Toris grinned, pressing a soft kiss to the top of his brother's head before he got up. "Go on."he said, opening the door to the classroom.  
Raivis waved at him before he entered.  
Once Toris saw he'd had a seat, he turned around and headed back out to the car.

The second that Lili saw Raivis, she perked up. "Raiv!"she greeted brightly.

Raivis blinked at her before smiling. "Hello, Lili."he greeted.

Lili smiled as the Latvian took his seat. "You feeling better today?"

Raivis nodded in answer.

"Good!"Lili said softly. "Vash said I could invite you over today if you want to come! He's going to talk to your brothers about it at school."

Raivis smiled at her and nodded. "Sure. If my brothers let me, I'd love that."he replied.

The day flew by. Raivis was a bit better about his stuttering and he was careful not to put himself into any situations to cause him to become that frightened.

Lunch was when the first issue came about. As soon as Lili and him sat down to eat, one of the other kids close by started in.

"Well would you look who decided to show his face again."

The teasing was something that Raivis knew he shouldn't be upset by, but he couldn't bring himself to not take it to heart.

When his smile fell, Lili frowned and spoke up. "Leave him alone!"she snapped. "He's done nothing to you."

The boy gave a grin then. "Oh. Raivis...this is sad. Your girlfriend has to stick up for you?"he asked, tone switching from teasing to downright cold.

Raivis scoffed at him. "J-jerk."he commented. "Don't bring her into this."

That evening, when the two's brothers got there, it was for them to see Raivis sporting quite a few injuries.  
Eduard's eyes widened and he shot over to examine his brother. "What happened to you?!"he asked in shock.

Raivis shook his head. "It's nothing."he said, pulling out of his brother's grip.

"It is not nothing. You're hurt, Raiv."Eduard commented. "What happened?"

Lili spoke up. "He was defending me."she said softly. "It's a long story."

Eduard looked to Lili before looking back at his brother. Vash, who had heard this exchange, half smiled. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me."he commented. "I figured he'd be the kind to get hurt for others."

Toris nodded. "He is, he just has to bring himself to get the courage to do it."he grumbled.

Eduard sighed and kissed the top of his brother's head. "God...don't shrug it off if you're hurt, alright? I thought that someone had done this for fun."

Raivis gave a weak smile. "They aren't that mean."he responded. "Just mean enough to make fun of others."

That day turned out pretty okay, Toris thought later on that night once he had carried Raivis to his bed. In fact, it was one of the calmer days that they'd had recently.

**Here ya go. **


End file.
